The First Day of Forever
by steepedinshadows419
Summary: Barry & Iris's wedding day from start to finish. Multi-Chap.
1. Focus, It's Your Wedding Day!

**A/N:** I thought of doing Barry  & Iris's wedding months ago, and then it was just a quick oneshot of little glimpses here and there, but recently I've thought it'd be fun to do every aspect of the entire day. I hope you enjoy it.

 ***** I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

…

 **Chapter 1 –** _ **Focus, It's Your Wedding Day!**_

She felt the sun warm the side of her face and the gentle breeze tickle the few strands laying against the front of her neck. The sheer drapes moved against the window and her eyes fluttered open.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Linda announced, coming through the door.

Iris groaned in response.

"Cheer up now. Today's the greatest day of your life!" she enthused, throwing her hands up in the air.

Iris turned her head to look at her wide-eyed best friend.

"What time is it?" she asked, still trying to blink the groggy away.

"Coffee," Linda said instead and held out the cup before her.

Iris moaned appreciatively as the hot liquid flooded her mouth and throat and wired her senses.

"Isn't this probably bad for me? Risking yellow teeth on my wedding day?" She set her cup down on the end table beside the bed.

"Probably. But I figured the least I can do given the circumstances."

"What do you mean the lea—" But just as she was about to whip off the covers and come after her best friend, she noticed one very important device missing from her bedside. " _Linda_."

"Mmm?" She tilted her head and looked at her innocently.

"Where's my phone?"

"I'm sure I don't know what—"

"Linda."

She sighed. " _Relax_."

A ringtone was heard in the other room and Linda's cool demeanor was gone. She lunged in front of the door Iris was about to dash out of.

"Iris, no," she commanded, her arms stretched out across the door frame. "It's bad luck to hear from the groom on the wedding day."

"Who said that?" Iris demanded, trying to sneak around her best friend's limbs and failing miserably.

"It's the saying!" Linda defended.

"You're thinking –" She tried to pry her away from the door - and failed – "of the groom _seeing_ the bride before the wedding on the wedding day."

"Nope. Pretty sure it's hearing too," Linda insisted, but this time Iris tricked her into which way she'd tried to break through and was able to make it into the living room.

"He'll distract you!" She went after her. "There's only so much time to get ready!"

"The wedding's at two," Iris said, distractedly looking for where the phone was in the room she'd just run into. "You still didn't tell me what time it is now."

"It's eleven," Linda said confidently. "Satisfied?"

"Liar," Iris said, not even glancing up at her. Finally, she uncovered the phone's hiding place and lifted it up to glance at the time before answering. "Seven o'five. Plenty of time to get ready." Then she turned away, walked to the window and twirled a few locks around her finger. "Hey baby," she purred into the phone, smiling unabashedly, so wide her cheeks hurt. "Missed you last night. Missed you all week. This hotel is a nightmare. Don't ever let me go to another one without you." She giggled in response to whatever it was Barry had said. "No, I'm not doing anything. Tell me about your night."

Linda rolled her eyes and walked away.

"Hopeless," she muttered. "Completely hopeless."

…

"What's with all the band-aids, Cisco?" Caitlin asked, coming to a halt a few steps into the room.

Cisco stopped and looked at the pile of unused band-aids and empty band-aid boxes sitting on top of a magazine-covered foot stool in the living room.

Before he could say anything though, Cisco heard that familiar sound emanating from the bathroom.

"Ow!"

Caitlin glanced at Cisco before heading towards the shriek of pain.

"Barry?"

She stopped suddenly when she noticed a tuxedo laid out over a couple chairs that was far too long for Cisco.

"Uhh…" Her voice got caught in her throat.

"Barry!" Cisco yelled out, following Caitlin's train of thought. "You decent?"

"Um…"

The sound of things falling and some groaning followed the uncertainty in Barry's voice.

Cisco scanned the area around the bathroom and spotted the pair of sweats Barry had worn last night.

"Stay here," he instructed Caitlin, then snatched the pants and marched towards the bathroom.

One hand over his eyes, he blindly held out the sweat pants in the sliver of an opening the door left for him.

"Barry – _take_."

"What – Cisco – _ow_!" More noise of Barry falling over himself…and into things.

Caitlin craned her neck a little.

"Everything okay over there?"

"Yep," Barry and Cisco said simultaneously.

"Just running into things," Barry said by way of explanation.

Cisco shoved the pants through the opening and walked back towards Caitlin.

"What's funny is he isn't even using his speed." He laughed nervously. "He's just being _Barry_."

"Heard that!"

Caitlin said nothing, just followed Cisco back through the messy living room and sat on the couch with him while they waited for Barry.

…

"Oh my god, what happened to you?" Caitlin sprung to her feet when Barry was finally in front of them, donned in appropriate white t-shirt and sweatpants. He also had little cut marks along his jaw line.

"I was…shaving."

Caitlin pointedly looked at Cisco and whispered, "Neosporin, please."

"He was smiling while he was shaving," Cisco said after grabbing the tube of antibiotic cream and placing it in Caitlin's hand. " _That's_ how he got the cuts."

"It'll heal," Barry defended.

Caitlin unscrewed the cap and started to dab bits of the cream on each of the cuts, pausing half a beat every time Barry sucked in a breath.

"It'll leave you with scars if you don't use _this_ ," she said. "And I doubt you'd want that on your wedding day." She smiled brightly.

Barry nodded.

Cisco sighed testily and shook his head. Caitlin barely held back a grin. Barry looked so adorably pathetic and unnecessarily guilty.

"Oh, give him a break, Cisco." She squeezed Barry's shoulder and turned back to her reprimanding best friend. "He's marrying the love of his life today. You'd be smiling a lot too."

Barry started to smile again, but winced when his lips spread too wide.

"It is critical to not smile while shaving, or…" He gestured toward Barry holding his jaw in place. "… _this_ happens."

Caitlin smiled and walked around the boys back to the haphazardly laying tuxedo near the bathroom.

"Something tells me this tuxedo isn't as pristine as it was when you got it. Want to tell me why it's not hung up in a closet somewhere." She looked over her shoulder to see both Barry and Cisco avoiding her gaze. She shook her head and looked back over the fabric that had some wrinkles in it. "Honestly, boys, Iris will not be happy if you're not looking as fabulous as she is."

Suddenly Barry was in front of her and Caitlin was trying to tame the hair flying in front of her face.

"You've seen Iris?" he asked, stars in his eyes. "What does she look like? I mean, besides Iris. Of course she looks like Iris. But does she look amazing –" He closed his eyes and shook his head at his idiocy. "I mean, _of course_ she looks amazing. She's Iris. But I mean, in her wedding dress, does she, how does she—"

"Okay, no." Cisco stomped over to them and pushed Barry away from Caitlin. "No, no, no, no, _no_." He snapped his fingers so Barry would look at him. Barry frowned. "You can't know what Iris looks like." He lightly smacked the side of his face, coincidentally right where some of his just about healed cuts were.

" _Ow_. _Cisco!_ " He held his hand protectively over his face.

Cisco rolled his eyes and looked at Caitlin.

"You don't happen to have…an iron, do you?"

 _You don't?_ popped into her head, but she just smiled instead.

"I think I may have one, yes. Can I assume you _both_ need your fancy clothes ironed?"

Cisco swallowed. "Well, I mean, if you _have_ one…"

She laughed. "Luckily for you, I've got a small one in my car. It'll take a little longer, but it'll do the job."

"You keep an iron in your car?" Barry deadpanned. "What, do you have a travel ironing board too?"

Cisco shook his head to get Barry to stop, but the speedster was oblivious.

Caitlin flushed. "It never hurts to be prepared!" she defended and turned for the door.

"What?" Barry asked to Cisco's glare after she had left.

Cisco said nothing and gathered both of their suits into the living room.

"You better hope all she's doing is getting an iron and ironing board," he muttered under his breath.


	2. Wait, There's Still Time!

**A/N:** I was going to finish this whole fic recently, but I got sick and wasn't able to make it happen by when I thought I could and now I'm caught up in other fics. But I hope you enjoy this chap and that you'll hopefully have the patience to wait until the next update, whenever that will be. ;)

 ***** Many thanks to my awesome beta, **sendtherain** , for looking this over.

 ***** I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

...

 **Chapter 2 -** ** _Wait, There's Still Time!_**

Caitlin popped into the private hotel dining room about twenty minutes after the rest of the girls had gotten there. Iris was idly picking at the fruit on her plate, almost missing her mouth a couple times as she stared out the window wistfully.

"Hey, guys," the brunette said, setting down the bag of supplies she'd brought with her.

Linda, Stacy and Felicity looked up to see the new arrival. The latter jumped to her feet to welcome her friend with a hug.

"Hey, _Caitlin_ ," Linda said deliberately, elbowing Iris who sat beside her.

Iris blinked lethargically at the new arrival.

"Oh. Hey, Caitlin."

"Iris." Caitlin grinned, amused. She rounded the table and presented her with the tiara she'd pulled out of the bag she brought with her. "I know you probably won't need this until we get to the church, but the shop called me early this morning, and I thought I'd surprise you."

Iris nearly dropped her fork as she took the headpiece gingerly from her.

"Oh my god, Caitlin, it's beautiful." She looked up at her, mouth hanging open.

Caitlin shrugged modestly.

Iris reached out and squeezed her hand gently.

"I'm so, so glad you're my wedding planner." Caitlin attempted to protest, but Iris kept going. "And not just for this…gorgeous piece, but everything. The location, the professional hairstylist, the custom-made dresses that – because of your connections – were half the price they would've been in a normal store."

"I knew some girls from college who abandoned their science majors halfway through their sophomore year to opt for beauty school. One of them even decided their calling was to become a wedding planner. What are the odds?" She paused. "Plus, you know, I had all those ideas I never got to incorporate…you know…with Ronnie.

A sweet sympathy colored Iris's face.

"Well, it means a lot to me," she said sincerely. "You've done more than your share, keeping us all on track with everything and making sure everything goes according to plan."

"Not to mention keeping the guys in check," Linda muttered under her breath.

Iris's hand dropped from Caitlin's as her eyes narrowed in on her best friend.

"The guys? The _guys_?" She eagerly returned to Caitlin. "You've seen Barry today?"

"No, she hasn't," Linda insisted, but her poker face was terrible.

Especially when Caitlin said at the same time, "Well, technically—"

"I saw them," Felicity burst out, holding up her phone with an image clear as day. "Oliver sent me a—"

Linda nearly lunged to the other side of the table to take the phone from her and tuck it into her small handbag, now sitting farther away from Iris.

Iris's brows narrowed. "Was that really necessary, Lin?"

"I don't know. Iris, what time is it?"

"9:05," Felicity chirped, looking at the clock over Iris's head on the wall. She then glanced back and forth between the slightly miffed Linda and the innocently shrugging Iris. "I-I wasn't supposed to answer that, was I?"

Stacy looked down at her plate, stabbing her fruit with some success as she shook her head.

"Right…"

"And what time did you talk to Barry this morning?" Linda pressed, ignoring the interruption.

"I hardly think that matters. We still have time—"

"Two _hours_ ago."

Iris's mouth snapped shut.

"So, no, we're not wasting another hour waiting for you to get past how gorgeous you think your husband-to-be is." She relaxed into her chair, shifting in an instant from scolding to cheerful. "We have a church get to."

Iris bit her bottom lip and nodded. Linda gestured to her plate.

"Eat."

…

Oliver stared Barry down across the table. Wally's hand paused mid-bite, pancakes stuffed onto his fork. Cisco ate at his own usual pace. Joe hesitantly set another plate of pancakes and other breakfast dishes on the table with the container of orange juice he'd pulled from the refrigerator. After a beat, he pushed them farther down the table towards the other men seated there. Away from Barry, who was stuffing his face at a speed impossible to fathom.

Oliver set down his glass of orange juice deliberately as he reached for the carton.

Barry paused and looked up at him, and everyone else staring at him. Even Cisco had set down his utensils, mildly concerned.

"Whaght?" Barry asked with a full mouth. He reached for the glass of orange juice Joe had set in front of him.

"Son, slow down," Joe said, sitting beside him.

Barry swallowed his food, that a large gulp of orange juice, wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand – to which Joe tossed a napkin at him and thanked his lucky stars the boy hadn't come in his wedding attire.

"I don't want to be late," Barry said by way of apology.

"It's 10:30, Barry," Oliver said from across the table.

Barry waited.

"The ceremony doesn't start till two, Bear," Joe filled in, selecting food to put on his own plate. "It'll takean hour for all of us to get ready – max. Then maybe an hour to get ready once we get to the church. That gets us to 12:30. Still an hour and half to go."

Barry slouched in on himself for barely a second before he sat up straight, grinning proudly. Oliver's eyebrows narrowed subtly.

"Maybe I can see Ir—"

The glare from Joe beside him made him stop mid-sentence.

"You are not seeing my baby girl before I do."

He swallowed hard. "Okay, but maybe after you—"

"And once I see her, no one will be seeing her until the ceremony, because I will be walking her down the aisle." His eyes squinted. "You didn't forget about the crucial importance of not seeing the bride before the wedding, did you?"

Barry sighed. "No," he grumbled.

"Good."

"Not that that should keep you from being excited," Cisco assured him, slapping his arm with enthusiasm.

Barry flinched slightly, frowning at the brief sting his best friend's hand brought. Then he turned back to Joe.

"Since you'll be the only one of us seeing her…"

Wally raised his hand. "I'll be seeing her."

"I probably will too," Oliver volunteered. Joe glanced over at him. "Felicity will likely be with her, and I don't have to wait until the ceremony to see the woman I love." He offered no sympathetic look to Barry.

"You know I got your back," Cisco said when Barry turned to him. The latter smiled, appreciating the gesture, but he started to frown when his best friend appeared to waver. "But things happen… What if Caitlin—"

"Oh, _God_." He put his face in his hands.

Cisco looked to Joe nervously. The older man didn't meet his eyes at first, determined to hold his ground, but eventually caved. Barry was like a son to him, and there was no one in the world he felt was more deserving of his daughter.

He dug out his phone, flipped through his photos until he found the one he wanted, and then nudged Barry's elbow.

"What?" Barry said into the table.

" _Look_."

Barry lifted his head, saw a glimpse of Iris on the phone, and immediately took the device from his future father-in-law.

It wasn't Iris in her wedding dress. It wasn't even Iris from earlier that morning. But it was Iris from the night before. She'd come to visit her dad on the eve of her wedding, her last night as a single woman, and Wally had hidden in the kitchen, recording the whole scene on his dad's phone.

 _"I get to marry Barry tomorrow, Dad. Can you believe it?"_ Her eyes sparkled, and Barry's breath caught in his throat.

 _"Baby girl,"_ Joe said in the video, wiping the tears of joy streaming down her face away and pulling her into a hug. _"I'm so happy for both of you."_

The video ended. Barry looked up at Joe with tears in his eyes, and despite himself, Joe had some too.

"It's not even the ceremony yet. How are these guys going to last?" Oliver muttered beneath his breath.

Wally grinned, overhearing. "They're not."

Everyone at the table resumed eating. Barry didn't speed-eat this time, and Joe smiled, a warmth spreading through him that he knew would carry him far beyond the events of the day.

His daughter was going to be Iris West- _Allen_.

It was more than he could have ever dreamed.


End file.
